Holocaust Survivor Teaches Grandchildren to Raise Voices

Six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust. At 81, Nat Shaffir is one of the youngest survivors, and he knows he is running out of time to tell his story. But he also knows that his grandchildren will keep his voice alive.

When Nat Shaffir looks at his beloved grandchildren, he beams with pride. But he also wonders.

He wonders if they could survive.

He sees them at their basketball games and birthday parties, and he sees himself at 9, promising to take care of his sisters as his father was taken away by the Nazis. He sees himself playing a dangerous game of trickery to keep his family alive through the winter of 1945 in the Jewish ghetto.

Shaffir survived the Holocaust as a child, emigrated to Israel and then the United States, settled down and raised a big, happy family. Five children, 12 grandchildren: Each named after one of his 32 relatives murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust, which killed 6 million Jews total.

At 81, Shaffir is one of the youngest Holocaust survivors, and he is keenly aware that in a couple decades, there will be no more.